The candidate is an assistant professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). He is proposing a career development plan in patient oriented research to acquire additional skills in the neuropsychological and neuroimaging assessment of aggressive juvenile offenders. This proposal investigates the hypothesis that 60 juvenile offenders can be identified by careful study of their weekly mood states and aggressive acts combined with a semi-structured diagnostic interview into the following diagnostic groups: Conduct Disorder with comorbid Bipolar Disorder (CD-BP) (n=20), Conduct Disorder with comorbid Intermittent Explosive Disorder (CD-IED) (n=20), and those with Conduct Disorder without bipolar disorder or IED (CD) (n=20). These groups will be compared to community controls matched for IQ, socioeconomic status and parental education (n=20). We expect the CD/BP group will show impairment in measures of executive function and will be impaired in terms of language, verbal memory and visual spatial functions. We anticipate the CD/IED group will show impairment in measures of executive function. We seek to determine if the three CD groups differ with respect to each other and normal controls in terms of neural anatomy and neuronal biochemistry. These subjects will undergo a 3-T proton Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) scan. We anticipate both dorsolateral and orbitomedial prefrontal cortex volume will be smaller in our CD-BP and CD-IED groups compared to CD and community controls. On MRS we expect to see decreased levels of N-Acetylaspartate (NAA) in the frontal and temporal lobes of CD-BP subjects relative to the other groups. We expect these differences to be associated with the underlying neuropsychological deficits. The career development plan also allows for the candidate to study neuroimaging techniques through the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, radiological studies division and the UTHSCSA Research Imaging Center. The candidate will also take courses on neuropsychological testing. This plan is designed to allow the candidate to transition into an independent career in research. These activities are likely to result in contribution to the understanding of the neurocognitive and neurophysiology of bipolar disorder and intermittent explosive disorder in juvenile offenders.